The instant invention relates to devices for tempering and cooling chocolate masses and the like and more particularly to a device wherein chocolate is effectively cooled and worked as it is passed through a series of sequential cooling sections.
It is generally known that in order to effectively cool chocolate, it must be cooled in a tempering process which induces the formation of stable .beta. crystals in the chocolate. In this connection, although tempering devices have been heretofore available for cooling and working chocolate in a plurality of sequential cooling steps to produce suitably-cooled chocolate products, the heretofore available devices have generally required large numbers of cooling steps; and as a result, they have generally been highly expensive.
The instant invention provides a highly effective device for cooling a chocolate mass in a plurality of cooling steps, wherein highly effective mass flow and heat transfer is achieved in each cooling step, and wherein a high percentage of the chocolate is formed into .beta. crystals as it is cooled. However, the device of the instant invention is also adapted to be made in relatively inexpensive constructions since it can be made with substantially fewer cooling sections than the hertofore available devices for cooling and tempering chocolate. More specifically, the device of the instant invention comprises a casing having an inlet adjacent the lower end thereof and an outlet adjacent the upper end thereof, and a series of cooling sections in the casing through which chocolate passes as it flows from the inlet of the casing to the outlet thereof. Each of the cooling sections comprises a pair of opposed, cooled upper and lower cooling surfaces which are defined by cooling elements in the casing and which are positioned so that they cooperate to define a cooling chamber therebetween, and a pair of rotating concentric upper and lower working elements in the cooling chamber. Each pair of working elements and the respective cooling chamber in which they are received are constructed so that chocolate enters the chamber adjacent the hub of the lower working element and passes outwardly between the lower working element and the lower cooling surface and then inwardly between the upper working element and the upper cooling surface toward the hub of the upper working element. Each of the working elements preferably comprises a disc portion and at least four helical scraping elements on the side thereof which faces the adjacent cooling surface. Further, the helical scraping elements are preferably constructed and oriented so that as the working elements in a chamber are rotated, the helical scraping elements on the lower working element move chocolate outwardly, whereas the helical scraping elements on the upper working element in the same chamber move chocolate inwardly. Still further, the working elements preferably each further comprise at least four substantially radially extending mixing elements on the side thereof which is opposite from the scraping elements thereon and which therefore faces the adajcent working element, and the mixing elements on adjacent working elements are preferably disposed at angles of approximately 45.degree. with respect to each other. Even further, the disc portions of the working elements are preferably formed with outlets or notches along the outer peripheral edges thereof which allow chocolate to be transferred from the area between the lower working element and the lower cooling surface to the area between the upper working element and the upper cooling surface.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the instant invention to provide an improved device for cooling chocolate.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide an economical device for effectively tempering and cooling chocolate.
An even further object of the instant invention is to provide a device for cooling chocolate, wherein chocolate is moved outwardly by helical scraping elements on a working element disc and then moved inwardly by helical scraping elements on another working element disc.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.